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China’s steel export prices remained stable over June 29-July 3 after increasing $5-10/tonne during the prior week, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report, which pointed out that demand from Asia showed signs of recovery with the faster resumption of industry in India after New Delhi’s COVID-19 shutdown and the restart of construction activities in Singapore.
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The general increase in domestic spot-market prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China evident since late April seems to have run out of steam, with prices finally showing signs of weakness last week, given the rise in production and declining stocks, Mysteel Global noted.
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Rerebar output from China’s 137 steelmakers persisted above 4 million tonnes over June 25-July 1, or inching up 0.1% on week to a new record high since Mysteel’s commencement of the survey in February 2015, as Chinese steel mills have been sticking to high output to maximize margins.
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Over June 29-July 3, China’s rebar and HRC prices softened on rises in production and inventories while less demand from East, South and Southwest China with the frequent and heavy rainfalls.
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Below is the brief near-term outlook of the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with market participants.
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The closing price of the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for October reached Yuan 3,619/tonne ($517/t) as of Friday, only fractionally lower than the closing price of Yuan 3,620/t a week earlier.
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Stocks of five major finished steel products at the 184 Chinese steelmakers Mysteel monitors continued to grow for a fourth consecutive week over June 25-July 1 as slowing demand from users kicked in, with the total tonnage rising another 4.1% on week to reach 6.5 million tonnes as of July 1, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
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Inventories of major finished steel products held by Chinese traders increased for a second successive week over June 25-July 2, as actual demand was undermined by the continuing frequent rainfalls in South and East China while domestic steelmakers kept production churning, Mysteel’s latest survey showed.
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Stable trading conditions at home encouraged China’s suppliers of hot-rolled coil to raise their export prices by around $10/tonne over June 20-28, yet despite this hike the price gap with the Chinese shippers’ global competitors narrowed as international prices climbed even faster, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report. Shippers of foreign coils exporting to China stumbled with their pricing as well last week, Mysteel Global notes.
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Prices of hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China’s domestic spot market remained firm over June 22-28 given the mills’ high production costs and stable fundamentals, even though the pace of production has already returned to pre-COVID levels, Mysteel Global noted.
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Against the expectation of some market sources for a further on-week contraction, rebar output from 137 China’s steelmakers reversed up by 1% on week to a new high of 4 million tonnes over June 18-24 ever since Mysteel launched the weekly survey in February 2015.
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Over June 22-24, China’s rebar prices inched down on the slowing demand amid rainy season and rising production whilst firm billet prices, and the hot-rolled coil prices held largely steady, though the country’s overall steel sales were partially interrupted by the Dragon Boat Festival over June 25-26, and traders’ finished steel stocks reversed up after 14-week declines, according to Mysteel’s series of surveys.
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Below is the brief near-term outlook of the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with market participants.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills grew up for the fifteenth consecutive week over June 19-24 by another 0.76 percentage points to 93.42%, according to Mysteel’s weekly survey, as most of the Chinese steel mills had not shown any inclination to cut down on their output in the rainy season yet.
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Major finished steel stocks at the Chinese traders ended its 14 weeks of continuing declines since late March over June 19-24, though the recovery was merely 61,400 tonnes or merely 0.3% on week, mainly as the domestic steel demand had shown signs of slowing with the heavy rainfalls having hit South and East china, while steel mills had yet trimmed the output promptly, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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Stocks of five major finished steel products at the 184 Chinese steelmakers increased and at a faster on-week rate of 4.8% to 6.2 million tonnes over June 18-24 as against the 3.4% on-week rise in the prior week, as they had not trimmed their output to match the weakening demand, Mysteel’s latest weekly survey showed.
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Persistent rebar price declines in China’s domestic market June 9 had finally cooled down the production frenzy among China’s 137 mills, with their rebar output having reversed from a 15-week climb-up, down to 3.96 million tonnes over June 11-17 and more lines had been on maintenance, Mysteel’s weekly survey showed.
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Over June 13-19, China’s steel exporters had raised their offering prices of the B500B 18-25mm rebar by another $5/tonne on week to $441/t FOB Shanghai port on average, in contrast to the recent softening in China’ domestic steel prices together with the weakening in demand in the rainy season.
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China’s price of Q235 4.75mm hot-rolled coil (HRC) rose further over June 15-19 by Yuan 34/tonne ($4.8/t) on week to Yuan 3,788/t including the 13% VAT as of June 19, mainly thanks to the firmer fundamentals for flats compared with long steel, Mysteel’s data showed.
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Below is the brief near-term outlook of the five key steel products Mysteel shares on a weekly basis, drawing upon the results of related surveys and communication with market participants. China will be on holiday on June 25-26 to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.
